She's in a fairly mountainous region, apparently on the eastern slope of a tall, forested range. The jagged spires to her west stab into the sky, bones of enormous animals - some likely even larger than her in life - decorating their slopes in a few places in the distance. The foothills to the east are less jagged, and seem to have the occasional break in the trees that might indicate farmland. There's a faint glimmer of water to the far north, and forest as far as the eye can see to the south. It's daytime, and the blue sky's clear except for a few lazy clouds.

The earth feels very, very different.

It is far, far too quiet. Even in Outland, shattered as it was, there was always the quiet and disjoint rumbles of dormant elementals. She reaches out and in, feeling the character of the earth. Topsoil and bedrock, crust and mantle. All is as it should be, the world is whole... except that it is dead. She knows not of any magic that could have done this. Twisting the elements, mangling them, yes, but not banishment.

She looses a bellowing roar and pulls a plume of magma up into the hill beneath her. She is no Aspect, but she can build this hill up.

Rise, mountains.

Slowly, reluctantly, the mountains rise.

(In the distance there is a rather significant amount of alarm.)

Good. Good. Perhaps, in time, this land can come to be healed.

She curls up at the top of her new perch, to await what locals may come.

A human - perhaps in his late teens - approaches at a rapid clip from the eastern fields, followed by three others.

He jumps up her mountainside in broad leaps, and lands before her.

"Who are you, and what is your business here?" he calls. His clothes are simple but well-made, and he has a single sword visible, secured at his waist. "I am Sasuke, a commander."

The language is foreign to her, but a quick and subtle spell serves to remedy that.

"Mortal." Her voice is clearly feminine and seems unsuited to the mouth from which it issues. "You are no shaman, but tell me. Who has killed this land?"

"The land is the same as it has been for centuries at least. If you want theological debates, you'd need to find a temple. Who are you, why are you here, and are you a threat to the people of this land?"

"I am Ellisaria. You are rather insolent for a human. I have no quarrel with any who do not bring their quarrel to me, save they who are responsible for driving the elementals from this place."

"I answer only to the Daimyo of these lands. By elementals, do you mean spirits?"

'Sudden powerful neighbor who wants to hang out in the mountain's graveyard, sleep (?), and fight people who disrespect spirits' wouldn't be the worst or even weirdest complication of his leadership, but it's not one he's exactly thrilled by. (He's going to need to warn idiots off of picking fights, isn't he, assuming she's telling the truth about being non-hostile - which he'll have to check for with Karin later. At least she's not near anyone else's borders.)

"Have your elders taught you nothing? Elementals are not spirits, mortal. They are the land itself, given form and will by the native magic."

"I'm not a monk, but 'spirit' is usually used to include the supposed creators of the world, animated objects, the life-force of very old trees, the wolf-god that protects one particular mountain, and land and nature spirits."

"Imprecise terminology," she sniffs.

"Where are you from?"

"Azeroth, originally. More recently Outland, which was once Draenor. What world is this?"

"I haven't heard of those places. This world is usually called Sekai, Seken, or Edo, depending on the tradition. 'Edo' is more common around here, to contrast with the Pure Land, Joudo. We don't have confirmed travel to other worlds. Did you mean to come here?"

"So many questions. Let me then take a form more appropriate to extended conversation." Her body collapses and folds in on itself-

-and in its place stands a tall, dark-haired woman.

"Now then. You asked if I meant to come here. I did not. There is nothing here to draw me, nor any obvious means by which the transit was achieved."

"Ensuring the safety of these lands is my job. You're an unknown, in terms of power, motives, personality, and allegiance."

"Well, naturally. Though of course, the same can be said about you from my perspective. I have no reason to believe you hold such authority beyond the fact of your saying it, nor any knowledge of your power or personality."

"Point. A fellow shinobi might be able to get a read on my personal power, but I'm not sure that applies across dimensions. I can have the team I brought with me confirm my rank, but their word's no more inherently reliable than mine. I am considered powerful locally, and among the elite on the scale of 'the continent,' but that again runs into a problem with relative scales. Forgive me for not being in the mood to detail my exact capabilities."

"My general philosophy for leadership is essentially to live and let live. Threats and in-fighting are not permitted, but all those who leave their grudges behind are welcome. Neither I nor the daimyo have an objection to you deciding that an uninhabited stretch of mountain belongs to you, nor to you defending yourself from immediate, direct threats. We would have an objection if you started attacking farms, or trying to impose your will on others who do not wish to be ruled. If you wish to learn more about this world, its powers, its spirits, and the like, I can direct you to people who specialize more in those matters, or ask if any feel like coming out to meet you, but whether they answer your questions will be their own decision. If you want a commitment of resources from me, I would ask for a proportionate commitment in return from you - probably no more than a limited defensive pact, both in terms of what I'm willing to commit to and what I'll ask. More likely would be an exchange of information."

"I can answer basic geopolitical questions, especially if you don't plan on staying in the area, but I would warn you that most places have a harsher outlook on new neighbors."

"I don't especially care about the politics of mortals. You are too brief to be worth the effort in general. My time on this world seems likely to be lengthy and if the rest of it is, as you say, as barren as this, I would as soon not relocate unnecessarily. Though you ought to know that I intend to hunt my food. I am interested in learning more about what you practice of magic but I do not wish to range far afield at the present time."

"The area to your immediate west and north is unclaimed. At a vaguely undefined point to the west is the start of Waterfall's territory. The northern peninsula is entirely unclaimed, though rumored to be haunted, and there is the occasional mountain village that's decided to scrape out existence anyways. As long as you don't steal livestock or otherwise bother this nation's citizens, I don't care what you hunt."

"A trade in magical knowledge would benefit us both, I suspect. Our powers can do space-time manipulation, and I have heard of one case of interdimensional transit involving a private, uninhabited dimension, so those might have an avenue for you to return to your home."

"My own magic has an avenue, but teleportation is not a field I have studied extensively. Most of the projected duration of my stay I expect to involve reconstructing theory and mapping local ley lines." Which would be much easier were she a blue. Not for the first time, she spares a moment to curse the fate that decreed her to be born a black instead.

"If we have ley lines we use a different word, so I'm not sure on what the comparative time spent would be on that versus learning seal techniques, but it's your time."

"I am unfamiliar with seal techniques."

"They're a very, very broad category, mostly meaning 'techniques effected through writing,' versus techniques effected through the body or mind. Most commonly used are storage seals, which can store chakra, items, kinetic energy, presumably minds, or theoretically anything you can sufficiently define. Barrier seals trap things in place, form barriers that are difficult to pierce, or the like. Space-time seals also exist, but those aren't my field; I'm mostly familiar with the effects of one that enables rapid movement, and with the use of summoning techniques."

"Interesting. Is it possible for anyone to learn these?"

"In this world, excepting some rare disabilities, and I'd be surprised if even someone who couldn't use chakra couldn't work on seal development and just find someone to activate it. They're based on a combination of symbols - the shape of which are usually just 'written words' but if you're being efficient should be a special character set - and mathematical determination of placement and of what the seal should tell the chakra to do. I don't know if someone not from this world would be able to mold chakra."

"I assume chakra is local equivalent of mana, that from which magic is made."

"Possibly. Techniques require molding chakra into specific forms, and chakra so used is inaccessible until it regenerates. It's in everything, but most people can't sense nature chakra."

"Yes, that sounds similar. You mentioned the term 'shinobi'."

"One of the categories of people who use chakra."

"What are the others?"

"Samurai and monks are the two main others. The major differences between them are political and historical, but there are some different traditions used."

"What classes of abilities does each group use?"

"Samurai mostly base their abilities around their swords. The monks use staves when they use weapons at all, but are more likely to use elemental manipulation. They tend to stay out of fights, though. Shinobi are more broad - there's illusions, physical fighting with weapons or the body, elemental manipulation, or non-elemental other techniques, that most can use. Technically there's nothing stopping each group from learning the others' techniques except tradition."

"I see. You are a shinobi, yes? How likely am I to encounter other shinobi, or monks or samurai?"

"I am a shinobi. Shinobi are the most common, and are the backbone of most militaries, but as a part of the population are rare. There are few samurai in this country, and in most of the others they stay in the wealthier cities and districts. The monks tend to stay isolated in their temples; you're unlikely to encounter many if you don't bother them, but some do wander on nature pilgrimages or something. Anyone sent to investigate you would likely be a shinobi. You might have the rare person observing you, but I have the greatest claim to this territory, my enemies are unlikely to come this far in, and my subordinates will be warned not to annoy you."

"Good." She briefly flashes her teeth in a simulacrum of a smile. "Such distractions are briefly amusing, but quickly grow tiresome."

"Mhm. Are you planning to stay on this mountain range?"

"Yes, I think so."

"For an information exchange, I assume you'd prefer I send someone out to you?"

"At least until I've finished setting up."

"What will setting up involve?"

"Pulling a proper lair out of these mountains, mostly. Wards, defenses, possibly a small increase in vulcanism."

"Alright. I'll warn the nearby villages that there might be some rumbling. I assume the increased volcanic activity won't threaten areas past your range?"

"That is unlikely, yes."

"If there's an accident, I'd ask that you help in diverting any danger from the inhabited areas."

"We'll see."

"Pleasantries aside, do you have any needs in the short term?"

"None I cannot fill myself."

"Alright. I'll leave you to it, then."

"You do that." She shifts back into her native form and takes off with a mighty sweep of her wings, to circle overhead until her visitors leave. The spot she's chosen... will in fact do well enough, with a bit of work. She can't see anything obviously better from here, and no signs she's likely to. All it needs is a bit of work.

She settles back down to coax the earth into the form she requires. The lack of elementals makes this both easier and harder than times she's done this in the past. The land has no preconceived notion of how it ought to be that she must wrestle with, but she has no aid in her efforts, only her own strength. Which is not inconsiderable. It's an interesting challenge. What might have taken her a week on Azeroth or two on Draenor, she soon realizes will be an exercise of at least a month, perhaps two. She goes for a hunt while pondering the design and takes a deer. Then two more. She'll need sentry eggs, certainly.

There was a lovely little cave she had in the mountains southeast of that high elf city, the ones who talked about the sun all of the time. She quite liked it, before Neltharion called the flight to Draenor. She models her new lair on that, but adds the jagged razor spikes from her last home in the Blade's Edge. This seems a martial sort of world, and it felt appropriate. Her eggs are ready by the time the cave is finished, as she had thought they would be, and she clutches in the main room, deep inside. They are different yet again, spikes not crabbed and greying like Azeroth nor twisty and very slightly springy as Draenor. The spikes are more nubs than anything. Still, the eggs themselves feel correct and so she sets them up in their position as guards, down the hallway and in the entrance and shallowly buried outside.

With that done, she feels secure in setting out to see somewhat more of the world for herself...

...in her human form. It's one thing to hear, but it is always another to see, and she doesn't want the observation muddied unnecessarily.

She's left alone while she makes the lair; the local leadership has apparently decided to put off any cultural exchange until she seems less busy.

There's a scattering of small villages nearby, mostly farmers, who'll likely immediately notice any strange women wandering through. Past the villages, though, there's a town with aspirations of city-hood straddling a river, apparently the local trading hub.

That seems an appropriate place to begin. What sorts of things are traded? And do the mortals here treat gold and silver as valuable similarly to her prior experiences? She has a small pouch of such, acquired in the process of excavation, to exchange for local currency if that seems indicated.

Most of the coins being used are bronze, copper, or iron. All of the coins have holes in the middle, and are of varying sizes and shapes - mostly circular, oval, or a sort of rounded square - with many having images of flowers and written inscriptions. There are also long, flat silver coins minted with their weight, and a few similarly minted gold coins used only for the most expensive purchases. The bulk of the coins seem newer and generally unified in design, but there are plenty of older coins, and coins of a different design philosophy, possibly minted elsewhere.

Most of the localized trading is for rice, bolts of cloth (mostly cotton), various tools, pottery, alcohol, perfumes, spices and sugar, a few rarer grains, dried meats, more expensive meats preserved with some kind of magic, books, and a few other assorted goods, mostly as useful for household use, but a handful are luxuries. There's gossip about the newness of it all, the ports opening to the north and the trading stations tentatively established at the border - this is a people long used to limited trade, and to diets barely more varied than plain rice. The vast majority of the goods come from within the country, and there's an undercurrent of excitement about any foreign goods.

The people themselves frequently show signs of past and extended malnourishment, their clothes worn but well cared for, any new pieces eagerly showed off.

A backwater she's landed in, then. Long isolated but now breaking its barriers, if in a less literal sense than would have been appropriate on a world managed by her flight. A product of the boy's initiative, perhaps. Young mortals are energetic and eager for change in such regards, yes? Hmm. This may be good for her, if the populace is too distracted otherwise to object to her presence. Though it is unlikely she goes unnoticed entirely, even wearing the guise of a human. She is one of the tallest people in town, immaculately groomed, her clothes of fine cloth and foreign cut.

What sorts of things do they write their books on?

A few people notice her - the general assumption seems to be 'shinobi' going by a few murmurs, though not a local one, and there's some wariness.

The books are written on paper, of varying quality. They're mostly bound in cloth or a stiffer, thicker paper. Literacy seems decently widespread. A glimpse inside a book reveals characters too neatly printed to have been produced by a human hand.

Interesting.

Her next stop is to sample the local cuisine.

Mixture of 'fairly bland' and 'people experimenting with new and exciting spices.'

(She will need money for anything beyond a very small sample from a small handful of more well-to-do places. More than a few of the food sellers will try to pull her into gossip - the most common topic is where she's from, though most can be nudged into chattering about their new neighbor in the mountains or assorted rumors and speculation about politics.)

Surely she can find someone willing to trade coinage for metal, even at a rate that may not be strictly even.

What are people's thoughts on the neighbor in the mountains?

There's a currency exchange - while alternative tender is accepted, people are being encouraged to switch to the newer system. The currency exchange also seems to be a wholesale buyer of bulk goods like rice. The man running the currency exchange whistles at her gold, says she'd probably get a better deal and more of it closer to the mining towns, but he'll trade metal for coins weight for weight - for a small fee, of course.

People mostly seem a lot less nervous than might be expected. There's a general feeling of 'well of course something moved into the mountain's graveyard, didn't I tell you it's haunted', some grumbling about seismic activity, one group of kids arguing about whether the dragon could beat the jounin commander - mostly involving wild speculation on both's powers, about the only thing agreed upon about said jounin commander is he uses a sword and beat Orochimaru (the name is said in a delightedly horrified whisper) and even less about the dragon. (The kids get sidetracked soon enough to another match-up.) There's some wild speculation about where she's from, but almost everyone agrees that basically every theory is ridiculous - a new tailed beast, formed from some emotion in the land; a kami of the earth or the mountain revealing herself; a shinobi with an odd bloodline; an alien from the moon...

Why is the area considered the mountain's graveyard?

Everyone's called it that for as long as anyone can remember, is the general consensus. A few people have theories - one man thinks it's just on account of all the giant bones, and that the people who named it were being literal. It's mountains, and it's a graveyard of giant animals. An old woman insists Yama no Kuni - the Mountain Country - used to be there, long, long ago, and that the inhabitants were all wiped out before the Empire fell, killed as rebels - so it's literally the graveyard of Mountain. Another old woman thinks it's the resting place of a mountain kami, and a third thinks it's cursed so everyone who enters dies before their time (she's unpersuaded by her friend pointing out they get trade occasionally from one of the mining towns within the area, nor by the monastery apparently located there).

What a quaint set of superstitions. None of that sounds like anything she ought to be worrying about.

The superstition would likely be amused to hear Ellisaria's thoughts.

"You from down south?" one of the more agreeable old women asks her after some good natured bickering. "Not often we get wanderers out this way, though I suppose merchants and pilgrims know no season."

"More or less. I am newly arrived in this area."

"Things are going nice enough lately, I suppose. Still, avoid the Yuu Road - it's a bit to the southeast, heads towards Rakushou City, been bandits there for years. Cautious, don't do much violence, so not really on anyone fancy's radar, but a pain for travelers. Though I suppose Oto might clear it out soon enough, they've been good at that recently..."

"I'll be sure to bear that in mind." This is not the face of a person who thinks that bandits are even remotely any sort of source of danger or concern.

Probably a shinobi, probably a spy, definitely not her problem, the old woman silently figures.

She does make an agreeable sound, though. "Well, good luck with your journeys."

"Thank you."

She's probably sufficiently exhausted what this town has to offer. First, back to her lair, to check that it is not disturbed and that if it has been, the protections functioned properly. Then, perhaps this Rakushou City.

It hasn't been disturbed as far as she can tell.

The road does indeed have someone Highly Suspicious loitering on it, looking tough, but he takes one look at Ellisaria, bows, says, "Shinobi-san," and steps aside.

Rakushou is better off than the town. There's more of a difference between the richest and poorest, and the richest have nice, heavily embroidered silk clothes, but there's still clear signs of renewal and new construction - mostly apartments, from the look of the people around them probably low-cost or subsidized housing. The gossip's different, less new neighbor, more dramas, more latest-work-of-fiction, more politics, more international - Ame is suspected to be about to go to war with Suna and maybe Konoha, Kumo is angry at Konoha for something, people are moderately worried the new jounin commander's ambitions might extend to war, though some people think showing off Oto's strength would be beneficial...

Tch. Mortal bickering and scheming. They should stop dancing around their issues and settle matters in a straightforward contest or war. Much simpler, much neater.

There's a wider variety of trade available, too, and even a few shinobi about.

One, a redheaded woman, seems to recognize her, but doesn't make any motion beyond a brief nod in her direction.

Does she know her...? Nothing comes to mind. Perhaps one of the young man's companions. She didn't pay them all that much attention.

The woman smirks, pushes her glasses up, and then a man behind her whispers to a friend, "Isn't that the commander's whore?"

His companion snickers. "Heard he had a different one, not that anyone's seen her... Some enemy of his."

"Hah! A hypocrite, too, huh? Or is he pushing the forgiveness talk that far?" the first asks, grinning.

The red head turns cleanly on her heel and smiles at the two men, teeth bared and air heavy with threat. "Be very, very glad Sasuke-sama doesn't allow us the same privileges Orochimaru-sama did," she says, sweetly. Then, to the instigator, "Though, you quite live alone, don't you? No one would really notice anything that might happen."

Both go pale, stammering an apology, and scurry off.

No one else seems to note the interaction as strange, though a few stop to watch, amusement in their eyes.

Ah, Sasuke. That was the name. Orochimaru is... the one he inherited his position from, and the pattern he's changing?. More information. And the exchange was moderately amusing.

But she's satisfied herself that there are no imminent threats she need concern herself with, and so returns home. She spends the next three days flying around the mountains, dotting them with small magical flames. If she was a blue, she could just look. But she's not. So in a week she will check the flames again to see which have flared and which have sputtered, and try to sketch a rough map of the ley lines.

Once, she returns from her flight to find the lair disturbed. The traps seems to have gone off, but whoever tripped them escaped.

That, she does not like. She breaks the whelping's spine with a smack of her tail and resets the wards, then buries the corpse.

She stays much closer to home for the next while.

That seems to have dissuaded others for now.

The fires she's set don't flare or flicker in response to either ley lines or magic.

Hm. That is... unusual. And potentially problematic. On any normal world, the distribution she has ought to have caught at least one. That none of the fires have changed at all indicates... what? A thaumic dead zone? But then the fires shouldn't have taken at all. She doesn't have enough theoretical background for this. Maybe a mana-neutral region? Are those even possible?

...The lack of elementals. Elementals are formed from loose environmental mana. If there's no mana, there won't be any elementals. If there's no mana, local magic would look different, which it does. Damn the gods great and small. She does not like this conclusion. It means she won't be getting back under her own power any time soon. Her bellowing roar of frustration shakes the ground.

The villagers nearby don't particularly like that, but they got used to the minor trembles during the construction. A roaring dragon sounds an awful lot like Someone Else's Problem.

Okay. Fine. Her first idea isn't going to work and she's young to be here for longer. What does she need?

A bigger lair. Local magic. Better defenses.

Of those, magic first. The mortals learn it within a lifetime, so it will be the quickest to pick up. The other goals require her to stay out of human form for extended periods, which will likely be disadvantageous for learning.

The lair will be straightforward. As for defenses... She'll lay more wards for now. She is not overeager to clutch again so soon. Maybe look to starting a dragoncult. That might dovetail with acquiring magic, if she offers local users the chance at ascension.

And the long-term stability of the mortals' politics is more important. She doesn't want to be caught unawares by an army.

So. Back into their civilization she must go.

The generally agreed upon best place to find shinobi is Otogakure. Otogakure is hidden. It might not actually be a single place, more a political entity spread over multiple places. After that, there's a contact point in the capital, Kometo, which is usually responded to really quickly. There's smaller contact points in the other cities and some of the big towns in more active areas, but they sometimes have a backlog.

(There's gossip about Kometo - people don't talk about the daimyo, much, the shinobi are more interesting, but soon after the new jounin commander solidified his position the old daimyo and all his sons died, leaving only his daughter. That woman, Ueda Kyoku, is the new daimyo, and people are unsure of her. Some think she's weak-willed, letting the shinobi walk all over her. Some think she's cunning. No one actually knows much of anything about her - her most notable trait is being utterly unexceptionable. Given the scandals that follow the nobles like clouds of flies, one old woman says, that alone is something to pause at.)

Kometo, then. She has no desire for a scavenger hunt, nor does she feel like waiting.

Kometo is larger, more colorful, and in better shape than the others by a large margin. There's more new construction, more clearly defined districts, and more people from a variety of places and backgrounds. More shinobi, too, including a large group in a building that's part of the publicly facing parts of the government - the equivalent of city hall is flanked by a large courthouse and the Otogakure contact point. There's a series of lines for the Otogakure contact point, feeding people into rooms made magically impregnable to spying, where presumably they solicit help from the shinobi - for a fee, if wants are determined to be outside their usual purview (as explained by a helpful sign).

She's apparently recognized by one of the guards, who gestures to her to leave the line and follow him, nodding to a door that seems to go further into the building.

Convenient. She follows.

"The dragon Ellisaria, right?" he says, sounding vaguely bored, once the door closes behind her. He sits at a table, and gestures to a chair across from him. "Sit if you want, don't if you don't." After she indicates which, "What's your reason for contacting us today?"

"I wish to speak with your jounin commander, regarding a change in our agreement."

"That's easy to pass on. Any details? Especially on urgency and where you'd rather meet - if it's urgent he can get here faster than most places, if privacy's more important you can meet him at your lair or in one of the bases, if it isn't urgent at all he might want you to come to him, or else wait until he has an opening in his schedule." Then, after a pause, "Usually we'd also ask for proof of identity, but our sensors already identified you positively, and don't think your signature can be trivially faked."

"I doubt that it could be. The matter is not urgent, but I would prefer it addressed sooner. Either my lair or his base would suffice as a meeting point."

"I'll get it sent in. You'll probably receive a message soon enough with a time and place - probably either a human messenger or a hawk. Usual turn around's no more than a week."

"Very well. One further matter. I will be in this area for the next several days and may make some excursions in my true form. I would prefer not to be attacked while doing so."

"That's fine. There's a no-fly zone over and around the capital itself, for safety reasons. I'll point it out on a map. Stay out of there, you should be fine - I'll let the forces nearby know who you are."

(A map can be rather quickly obtained. The no-fly zone is large-ish, but reasonably sized overall.)

She notes the boundaries. And then, her business concluded, will take her leave.

And then she goes for a fly around the capital. If she's showing off a bit more than usual, no one who doesn't know her will be able to tell. You can't start a cult if no one knows who you are or has any reason to appreciate your power and majesty.

A messenger hawk - big, about the size of a small pony, dark brown with flashes of red along the edges of his feathers and an orangish head - finds her before she's ready to leave. He tilts his head at her, and says, "I have a message for Ellisaria."

"I am she."

The hawk rustles his feathers, then, "Good. Sasuke-sama can meet you tomorrow morning, or on Gold Day next week, within his base, which I can lead you to."

"Tomorrow, if it is within a day's flight."

"It is, even with how late it is now. You want to go now, or should I come get you?"

"Now is preferable."

"Right-o." He flutters his wings, then takes off with a few powerful strokes, circling upwards. "I'll put a technique over you so everyone doesn't see where we're going, how about," he calls.

She launches herself after him. "You may."

Not much changes from her perspective - the air under her ripples a bit, and he's hard to see from most angles, but this technique isn't intended to hide fliers from each other.

The base is nearby, around ten miles from the capital. It seems small, for a military base - only a tiny portion projects above ground, but the underground part isn't particularly impressively sized, either.

The hawk lands in a tree, mantles his shoulders, and a rippling illusion falls away from the stone entrance.

She lands, and shifts to human form.

Does she need to knock?

The door opens smoothly for her, and the hawk jumps down from his perch, grumbling about human warrens as he ducks into the tunnel and waddles forwards.

She takes a brief moment to feel out the contortions and hollows in the earth that the base is built from before following.

Most likely formed by magic, but there's no lingering magic in the earth itself.

The area she's led to is only a few dozen feet below the surface, rather shallowly anchored into the bedrock. There's an atrium of sorts, decorated with enormous statues of snakes, with many doors leading off of it (and several more doors hidden, going by the presence of hallways behind blank stretches of wall, floor, or ceiling). The architecture apparently assumes its inhabitants aren't limited by having to walk on the floor, though nothing assumes they're comfortable hanging out for extended times upside down. Many of the higher doors have a pad large enough for a single person in front of them, and no visible way up.

There's a few people coming and going, in fact treating the ceilings and walls as perfectly legitimate paths, though anyone idling is on the floor. A man with a shock of light blue hair and the same cream-colored uniform as most of the other people present walks up to Ellisaria, says, "Heya. I'm Teiden, one of the chuunin. Sasuke-sama is tied up until tomorrow, but I can show you the public areas of the base, or just drop you off at one of the guest rooms."

Snakes are... an aesthetic to have. More common among trolls than humans in her experience, but.

"I would appreciate a tour, first."

The hawk nods to the man, then vanishes in a cloud of smoke. He doesn't seem to have gone anywhere in particular. Teiden nods back, then turns to Ellisaria. "Okay! This base's more open than a lot of the others, so it won't even be a 'here's the entrance area. Here's where to get food. Here's the bathroom. No nothing else is publicly accessible' type of tour. How much do you know about shinobi?"

"The most common type of chakra user. Commonly employed in assassination, reconnaissance, sabotage, bodyguarding, occasionally open warfare. Most of you live in 'Hidden Villages' separated from other humans.Your spells and abilities are sorted into a few distinct classes and tend to be elementally aligned."

"Pretty much. We also have ranking systems - standard's genin to chuunin to jounin, with some sub-ranks in there, kind of as catch-alls of expected responsibility. Genin are starting out, usually don't wear uniforms, not many around here but they sometimes run the more milk-run messages, almost never do things unsupervised by a chuunin or jounin. Chuunin are from 'trusted to operate on our own' to 'squad leaders.' Jounin are more powerful, kind of the higher ranked officers. My uniform's the chuunin one. The jounin don't have a set uniform for day-to-day, either, when there isn't a big operation going on. You might hear the leaders of the big five being referred to as Kage, that's kind of an air they put on, ours is just the Jounin Commander. You're not part of the ranking, and Sasuke-sama is pretty informal, so just standard levels of politeness are fine, no need to salute anyone or anything silly."

(He starts leading her to one of the doors, then remembers to ask if she can walk on walls. Or fly without getting inconveniently big.)

She cannot walk on walls nor fly out of her native form, but is entirely capable of jumping the height required to reach any of the doors she's seen thus far.

That's fine.

The parts of the base accessible to visitors, even allies being quasi-courted, aren't usually all that interesting. There's hints that significant chunks of this place were converted from cells and labs. There's symbols on the walls, sometimes, especially around the doors, in specific patterns that don't much look like local writing, and some people carry similar images on their bodies. A small handful of the symbols seem to thrum with something almost like potential.

These would be seals, perhaps? She pauses to look at the ones on the walls more closely.

They're mostly fluid in shape, swirling in on themselves, with minuscule details too fine to have been produced by a human hand.

Hmm. Very interesting.

"Looking at the fuinjutsu? Anything like that, where you're from?"

"Runecarving, perhaps. A vrykul art, not one I've studied. But it is usually less... intricate." She peers more closely. "The level of detail here..."

"It's managed with chakra - you make a pattern, then the chakra applies it, from what I know. I'm not an expert, though, I just know enough to not try and apply them myself."

"Dangerous to the uninitiated? Unpredictable?"

"Easy to mess up, and prone to exploding if you get anything wrong. Or worse, you sometimes hear weird stories of bizarre fuinjutsu accidents."

"Bizarre how?"

"Stuff getting changed, people getting weird powers and then going mad, the chakra forming into a malevolent spirit, gravity pointing the wrong direction until someone figured the seal out, weird dimensional effects - a messed up storage seal, when it doesn't blow your arm off, will sometimes grab odd stuff from elsewhere, probably this dimension but maybe not. Nothing big, and nothing controllable so far."

"Is this an active area of study?"

"Always is. Was one of Orochimaru-sama's big pushes. Sasuke-sama's restructured things, but it's still a major research and development focus."

"I see."

"Something you're interested in?"

"Yes."

"You might be able to work out a knowledge exchange, even if you're not willing to work for us. Not sure on policy with that, but Sasuke-sama's been pushing for increased cooperation internationally."

"That is one of the objectives of my visit."

"Be neat to see what comes of it," he says. "Anything else you feel like passing on? If Sasuke-sama knows your agenda, he can prepare information or offers better."

"I think the rest should stay between he and I, for now."

"Alright. Do you want to see more? Most of it's much the same, but a portion of the training areas are open to visitors, too."

"I would like to see the training areas."

"Right this way. They're a bit set off from everything else, closer to the surface. Makes things safer - even with limits on what techniques people can use, someone always does something they shouldn't..."

Most of the training areas take the form of large, clear arenas, likely meant for sparring, sometimes with raised observation areas. A few have changeable obstacle courses. Two have seal-assisted exercise equipment - the larger has a raised track around the edge, which a couple of shinobi are running on. Three have training dummies - a sign informs readers that the dummies are capable of regeneration within such and such limits, and the next idiot to atomize one gets to explain their decision to the requisitions department.

She smirks at the sign.

A small variety of equipment, most training is combat-focused. As expected, but it's good to have confirmation.

"You're welcome to use these while you're here, long as you follow the posted rules," he says.

"We shall see. At my age, one no longer requires continuous practice."

He makes a noncommittal noise. "Must be nice. Might be a species thing, too, humans lose muscle tone pretty easily. Anyways, you want to head to the guest rooms, or hang out elsewhere for a bit?"

"The guest rooms."

"Alright."

The guest rooms are fairly plain, with rice mats cushioning against the cold stone, and the main bedding option being a roll-away futon. There's a desk and chair that fold away, as well as some shelves set up similarly, and the room has a partition that can be drawn to block off the back half. It's fully possible to get the room entirely empty. There's an attached bathroom, but no kitchen.

It will serve, for the night.

The next morning, Sasuke's ready to meet her bright and early, well before dawn. He looks like he just showered, though his hair is dry, and his scent carefully matches the background stone. His face is even, and he remains sitting when the chuunin from yesterday shows Ellisaria in. The room seems more like a living room than an office, with two comfortable couches facing each other across a low table, and scrolls with calligraphy on each wall, mostly containing scraps of poetry or short but pithy phrases. There's fancy looking paper and nice brush pens on the table, but nothing else. Another door, firmly shut, sits opposite the one Ellisaria came in from - beyond is a small suite, not significantly larger than Ellisaria's own, judging by the feeling of hollows in the earth.

"Hello," he says once he's dismissed the chuunin. "Go ahead and sit. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did," she says, arranging herself on the couch carefully and deliberately. "My investigations have revealed that this world is entirely devoid of magic, rather than it being dormant or hidden. As such, I must assume that my time here will be significantly longer than I was anticipating and correspondingly, I now have a much greater interest in the long term stability of the lands in which I find myself."

"Reasonable. I assume you wish to learn our techniques, towards the goal of returning to your home world. We do have conditions on the sharing of knowledge - usually, knowledge is given in trade. Future aid, service, or knowledge in return is the most common barter. As for stability... That is our interest, as well. What actions do you intend to take towards that goal?"

"On my homeworld of Azeroth, it was the duty of the black flight not only to care for the earth, but also to maintain peace among the mortal tribes by seeing to the physical barriers that kept them sundered. Eventually our Aspect decreed that the mortals had grown beyond the need for such, and we let that lapse. I have no desire to set myself as queen above you. You manage your people well, and I do trust that you do not wish conflict for its own sake. If you ask my aid in your endeavors, I shall give it."

"Thank you. We will do the same in return. For information exchange, I can send one of my seal masters your direction for a time."

"At the moment things are relatively peaceful, though there's tension - we've recently suffered a major change in leadership and direction, and our neighbors are watching us for weakness. Additionally, a certain group, the Akatsuki, has been making trouble. They began gathering the tailed beasts some time ago, and have already attacked at least two major Hidden Villages in search of those. We don't know what their end goal is, but it's unlikely to be anything good - historically the tailed beasts have been wielded as weapons of war. We might ask you to help in a strike against them, if they become a blatant threat, or in defending other villages from them, or even in acquiring and defending a tailed beast ourselves - we suspect we could court at least one - to prevent them from acquiring all nine, though that decision hasn't been finalized one way or another."

"Other than the Akatsuki, our current endeavors are primarily diplomatic and economic; while you might have a unique advantage in those arenas, I'd like you to know more about the local landscape before I'd ask you to intervene."

"What exactly are these 'tailed beasts'? I overheard some speculation that I might be one. I do not think you will want to employ me in any purely diplomatic capacity, my patience for such foolishness is quite limited."

"They're usually held to be monsters, made of pure chakra and possibly manifested hatred. But I've spoken to two of them, and they have memories, and can hold grudges, and can be fond of things like 'boasting' or 'alcohol,' which indicates more sapience and free will than is usually ascribed to them. I figure at least one must have a sense of self-preservation."

"There's nine tailed beasts, with one through nine tails, increasing in power with the number of tails. They're enormous in their true forms, ranging from twice as tall as a horse to capable of clearing mountains with a single leap. They take animal-like forms - a tanuki, a cat, a turtle, a monkey, a dolphin-horse, a slug, a beetle, an ox, and a fox, in order from least to greatest. They've attacked settlements before, but my predecessor found some documents indicating humans might have been the ones who started those conflicts, even if indirectly."

"Which ones have you talked with?"

"Shukaku, the one tailed tanuki - though that was during a fight against him and his then host - and the nine tailed fox. I don't know the fox's name. Currently, most of the tailed beasts are trapped in hosts, and have been for the last few decades, which makes it easier for Hidden Villages to wield them."

"And for Akatsuki to collect, presumably."

"That does seem to be a side-effect, yes."

"What form does the possession take? Is it willing?"

"The tailed beasts haven't consented once that I've heard. Hosts are usually selected as infants, less commonly as young children - less chance that their chakra system will reject the intrusion. Hosts can siphon power from their prisoner, with how safely or efficiently varying with seal design."

"I don't think I approve of this system."

"It's stupid, unnecessary, and backfires a lot. Which is why I'd wanted to negotiate with one of the tailed beasts - likely the three-tailed turtle, who is currently unsealed."

"Perhaps it would respond better to one closer to its own nature. And size."

"Might take that as threatening. Or interesting enough to not immediately attack; the turtle likely finds humans plenty threatening already. Worth trying, though, and your aid would remove several logistical difficulties. I would still want at least some shinobi to accompany you most of the way. A sensor at a minimum, and preferably someone with combat capabilities in case of an encounter with hostile forces."

"Were you thinking of doing this soon?"

"It'd be best to move quickly, yes, given Akatsuki's unknown time-table."

"I am amenable, but I need to know more about what exactly you want from the turtle or want to offer it. And I want to meet those you would send with me."

"The sensor you've run into. Karin, a red-head with glasses, in Rakushou. She's our best tracker, and knows the signatures of all identified Akatsuki members. The support will depend on who's available - likely myself or Suigetsu, a swordsman; other jounin are available, but I'd prefer to send more than one of the less skilled fighters. I would prefer to go myself, assuming no issues arise here, for assorted reasons including simplifying negotiations, that I have a flying summons of my own, and that I'm our most capable shinobi in direct and open combat."

"What I want from the turtle is for him to relocate to the waters to our direct north, and to accept observation by my forces, and a line of communication. Ideally, I would like a mutual defense pact, or even an outright alliance, but I'm willing to negotiate down to 'we will protect him from attempts to seal or trap him, and he will be non-aggressive towards us and authorized ships.' An alliance would probably consist of us treating him as an independent contractor, and offering him compensation in return for missions - probably defending nearby shipping lanes from sea monsters and pirates. I'm not clear on what compensation a turtle made of chakra could possibly want, so I can't outline ahead of time what exactly I can offer."

"I see. That sounds unobjectionable."

He sort of half grins. "You haven't met Suigetsu yet. He's annoying. But I'll aim for sending myself."

An expression, how novel.

"Are there any other imminently pressing issues?"

"Not presently. How soon would you be willing to move on the three tails? The soonest I could leave is this afternoon, though a longer delay would allow me to more thoroughly arrange matters to operate smoothly in my absence. Three days from now is preferable for me."

"My schedule is open at present. If you wish to delay more than a day, I will retire to my lair and return."

"We don't have word of Akatsuki presently moving, so yes, I would prefer a delay. Three days from now, morning, with a planned departure before noon."

"Understood. I will see you then."

She takes her leave with a minimum of fuss and heads home. She doesn't have time for much in the way of housekeeping beyond refreshing wards, but she does begin poking at the rock below, starting to make it pliable in preparation for future expansion.

She gets back to Sasuke's base soon after the sun rises on the third day.

He saddles one of his guards with running the village. She watches him do paperwork often enough, and is one of the few who came out of Orochimaru's regime without anyone holding strong grudges against her. She is not particularly impressed.

Finding someone else to make sure Itachi neither starves nor escapes is a bit more of a pain, since he's taking Karin with him. Possibly illicit or at least hypocritically held captives are a headache, who knew. Still, Karin has those she recommends, primarily healers with enough discretion and loose enough morals. Which is all of them except the trainees and a tiny handful of recent arrivals. He picks someone with the talent to simply keep his sister unconscious safely, and then turns his attention to making sure no one sets his village on fire while he's gone.

He will be sorely disappointed if they can't survive a few days without him, but life is full of disappointments.

Still, Sasuke's ready for Ellisaria outside the main entrance, Karin and Juugo with him.

He nods to Ellisaria when she arrives, and says, "This is Karin, and this is Juugo. Juugo is strong, but has a condition reducing his ability to consistently control his actions, which I can keep in check better than our other available options, so I made the call to bring him." And taking Juugo gets the captain of his guard slightly less annoyed with him over this.

Juugo bows shallowly, right on cue, and seems mostly quiet and withdrawn.

She dips her head in acknowledgement. "Well met."

"Well met," he says softly.

"So, we getting this show on the road?" asks Karin, smirking.

"Yes." To Ellisaria, then, "I will summon a hawk for us. Karin has located the Three Tails." He gestures, and an illusory map floats between them. A red dot shows a drifting form several miles off the eastern coast, lingering near a few outlying islands. "This is his current location, but he has been known to move quickly before, so we believe it would be more efficient for us to lead you."

"Very well. I am ready."

He flashes through hand signs, then taps the ground, and a large hawk - back easily broad enough for all three shinobi - appears in a cloud of smoke. The hawk flaps his wings a few times, then settles and twists to look at Sasuke. "The mission's here?"

Sasuke nods, and he and his team climb on the hawk's back. Karin says, "The turtle hasn't moved yet," and the hawk lets out a shrill cry before taking off, circling into the air before cutting southeast. 

Southeast it is. She keeps pace easily.

The hawk's significantly faster than a non-ninja hawk would be, but not faster than a dragon, and soon enough they've reached the eastern shore and angled more south-wards, Karin periodically flaring her chakra in specific patterns to direct the hawk.

They land on a cliff overlooking one beach, with a large enough clear space behind it for Ellisaria, and Sasuke jumps down.

They must be close, then. She circles once more before setting down.

"The Three Tails is nearby, according to Karin. He's moved; we believe he may be investigating the reefs around her. He's currently at this location, within sight of this island's shore, which should be an acceptable landing point..." And new location can be highlighted on the map. "Do you want to arrange a signal for us to approach? Karin can sense fluctuations in chakra, and possibly in magic, which would be a convenient method of communication."

"I will send up a flare. Red for hostilities, blue for a more successful outcome."

"That works."

She takes off again and heads for the reef.

The three tails pokes his head above the water as she approaches, water sluicing off his spiked shell, his eyes narrow. He appears to be grumbling something, but it isn't audible.

He seems to be around twenty four feet tall between his two shells, thirty feet wide, sixty feet long with his tails fanning out another sixty feet - approximately Ellisaria's own size, if a hair bigger.

She circles once around up high before dipping lower to hover above the waves.

"I am Ellisaria of the black flight. What is your name?"

He tilts his head, then rumbles, "'M Isobu." His voice seems quieter than it should be, given his size. "Haven't seen one like you before. You a youkai?"

"I am dragon, and a visitor from another world. What are you doing here, Isobu?"

"The coral is damaged, because humans are idiots. I'm repairing it. Replacing the coral is easy, but fish are harder, so I'm also scaring the fishermen, since this is an important nursery."

"A worthy endeavor. Do you do this sort of thing often?"

"Yes. I have been having to catch up, since I was sealed so long, and the others aren't doing their jobs, so I'm doing theirs now, too. The ones I can reach, at least."

"What are the others supposed to do?"

"Shukaku does the air. I can do that, and I used to do it a lot because he's drunk bunches. Matatabi does the mountains. She also likes sitting in a mountain temple and acting wise. Though maybe not now, I don't know if she has a grudge against the humans. Son Goku is responsible for the land plants, Kokuo for the land animals, Saiken for the things beneath the earth, Choumei for the flying animals, Gyuuki the small kami, and Kurama the humans. Kurama hates humans and hasn't done his job in forever. Matatabi, Choumei, and me are the only responsible ones. I haven't been able to contact Matatabi at all in months, though, and Choumei seems worried a lot, but I can't talk to them very well to ask what's wrong."

"My kind had similar responsibilities on my homeworld. Red dragons cared for the people, green dragons for the wild, bronze dragons managed time, blue dragons oversaw magic, and black dragons, my flight, were wardens of the earth. We were given these charges by the Titans, the creators of the world, when it was young. When I got here, the first thing I noticed was that the earth was dead. There are no elementals here, no animating spirits. Nothing for me to communicate with. I am pleased to learn that this place is not entirely bereft of those who care for it."

"There's the kami. But not so many anymore. Your world does sound different, but it's good it has dragons. Our world had nobody, until our father made us."

"Who was your father?"

"Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. The humans call him the Sage of Six Paths."

"What do the humans think of you and your father?"

He snorts. "Father taught them to use their precious chakra, so they like him. They don't like us as much. The one who caught us sixty years ago just sold us to the other humans, like things. Yagura, my last container, was surprised I could talk. But he was nice after, and listened to me about damaging the ocean, until that masked man put a control illusion on him."

"Masked man?"

"He wore a mask, and only had one eye, and felt like an Uchiha who had some Senju in him. He was mean, and made Yagura ruin his village. I saw him once through Yagura's eyes. He had an orange mask, with a spiral, and a black cloak with red clouds that covered the rest of his body. He said he was Uchiha Madara. He was not; Madara was an Indra reincarnation, and that line is very obvious."

Hm.

"I met someone named Uchiha recently, a young man. He rules the shinobi in the land to the west. He said that a group of humans called the Akatsuki has begun hunting Tailed Beasts. He asked me to offer you his protection from them."

"The Uchiha over that way? He's an Indra, like Madara. Indra was always very protective of family, though he sometimes forgot other people existed. I suppose he might be wiser, now. That's what reincarnation is supposed to do."

"Why does he want to protect me, and what does he want?"

"He does not like the Akatsuki. He believes they threaten the peace he is working for, and wants to deny them their quarry, because you have historically been used as weapons. He wants you to move somewhere he can keep watch over you and if you are willing, a pact of mutual aid or an alliance. He does not, so far as I am aware, intend to seal you himself."

Isobu rocks back a bit. "Hm. Moving would be inconvenient. I have to go places a lot, to work on the ocean. I don't know what he could offer me, for an alliance. If he has some coast, he can do what Yagura did, and protect that part of the ocean from damage, but that isn't much. But it could also be really bad, if the Akatsuki got us - have they been hunting the others? I noticed some of my siblings going very quiet. If they're collecting us all... That's really, really bad maybe, especially since just sealing us doesn't stop us from talking."

"The Uchiha may have more information on what exactly the Akatsuki are doing than he shared with me. I can call he and his friends over if you'd like to talk."

"Alright, I suppose."

She tilts her head back and tosses a stream of blue light into the sky.

Sasuke arrives soon enough.

"Hello," he says to Isobu. "I am Uchiha Sasuke, jounin commander of Oto, in the Land of Rice Fields. It is on the northern part of the continent, to the west of the peninsula at the north-east corner. Ellisaria indicated you were open to negotiations?"

Isobu nods, but seems hesitant to say anything, eyeing Sasuke a bit warily.

"This is Isobu," she says. "He is here to repair the damaged coral and keep the fishermen away so that the fish can regrow."

Sasuke nods. "That's good. We've been having to repair the soils in Rice Country, lately. People over-farmed. Is the ocean something important to you?"

Slow nod. "Ah. Yes. It's my job."

"Hm." He has an inkling of an idea - treating Isobu as the responsible ruler of the oceans might be off-track, but it's a circle he knows how to move in. "We have a very small coast, with very few fish nurseries, and not much trade passes through us, but we might be able to help you. I realize that staying near us would hamper your efforts, so I would propose a trade - our honored daimyo has been working to raise the profile of Rice Fields in the scientific arena. Already many people know that we have valuable, and often accurate, information. People are usually more ignorant than malicious. Publishing papers, and giving the information to everyone about how important the ocean is, and what they can do to protect it, might be able to impact policy some, and make your job easier once the Akatsuki are dealt with."

"In the short term, I can speak to the local fishermen. They are likely more scared of you, but people usually treat the tailed beasts as transient fears. I can explain to them why not fishing here is better, and they will trust that I will remember them if they transgress."

"I would not ask you to obey me. You are clearly sovereign here, and disrespecting that would reflect ill upon me. Even if you cannot or will not defend us fully, helping protect you in turn protects us."

Isobu squints, then nods slowly. "Your words make sense." Then, to Ellisaria, "Does he seem good on his word, for this?"

"He has treated fairly with me thus far. I do not believe he is lying to you."

He nods, decisively. "I will accept your deal, for now," he says to Sasuke. "But if you are lying, I will leave again."

"I have no wish to constrain you." He bows, slightly, as is appropriate from one leader to another. "Isobu-dono, it is my hope that we will have a most fruitful alliance."

That went well.

"Congratulations."

He nods, opens his mouth to say something - 

And the sky explodes! Quite artistically, if Deidara does say so himself.

He also, with a sense of satisfaction, had set himself on the edge of the sensor's likely threat-detection range. He knew ballistic missiles would come in handy.

Ellisaria is knocked into the water. She does not appreciate this.

She makes her displeasure known as she claws her way back into the air.

More bombs, many of them even larger now that Deidara's enjoying not having to hide.

Karin got separated from Sasuke and the others, and fell. Hitting the water hurt more than the explosion. She bites her arm, it's a quick and dirty way of healing herself but it's fast, starts swimming for the surface because her ears are ringing but now that they're openly hostile she can located the damn bastards, but she's deep and tired - 

A curl of water wraps around her, and whisks her to the surface.

Away from the explosions.

Isobu surfaces nearby, whispers, "Are you okay?" It's a comical sound, from something so big.

"Yeah, I healed - I know where they're attacking from, though one of them keeps slipping in and out, one's hanging back and throwing the bombs - I think the other's going for an ambush strike. I need to tell Sasuke-sama, or Ellisaria maybe. Someone who flies, the bomber's up in the air." She stops, samples his chakra again: "Almost certainly Deidara. Which means he'll have a counter to some of Sasuke's sharingan's more common tricks."

"I can get you there. Climb inside my shell, it's safer."

She nods, takes a deep breath, and does so, and clings on as Isobu rockets back towards the fight.

Sasuke weathers the blast, takes off immediately on his hawk, wastes a precious few seconds getting Juugo down from his building rage - while Sasuke's stuck with him on a small flying surface is extremely not the ideal time and place - and starts circling, trying to spot the bomber and dodge the explosions.

The sharingan is not actually very good for distance vision, though, and he can't locate his target.

Someone, a man in an orange spiral mask and Akatsuki robes, appears next to him, tries to grab Sasuke - Sasuke stabs him, his sword goes through the man - 

Sasuke dismisses the hawk, propelling himself away from the man in the moment before free-fall.

The explosions are bombs, mostly coming from that direction.

She breathes in and out, sweeping her head across the sky, expelling greats gouts of fire to detonate the explosives before they get closer.

Some of them disgorge smaller bombs, fine enough to be breathed in, thickly laid enough to quickly start cutting swathes across her path.

Sasuke falls through a patch. Luckily, this problem is eminently solvable with lightning.

(The bombs adapt, become increasingly fire resistant. The bomber also is either using multiple launch points, or moving incredibly fast.)

She sees Sasuke's effectiveness with lightning out of the corner of her eye. Were there elementals she could call a storm with ease, but failing that-

-she shifts form, and lightning erupts from her hands.

That seems highly effective, dusting many of the bombs and rendering the others inert.

Sasuke summons a new hawk under himself, swoops to get Juugo, and glances around.

And Karin valiantly doesn't scream when Isobu throws her at Sasuke. Luckily he catches her, so: "I know where the bomber is - that teleporter's harder but I can warn if he's coming - "

They'll wing off in the direction Karin indicates, though not before Sasuke shouts at Isobu, "A storm would be helpful now!"

She shifts back before she hits the water again. The humans can watch themselves. She will guard Isobu.

Isobu whips up the start of a hurricane. It's a bit more than what Sasuke asked for, but it's far, far more likely to hamper his opponent than Karin. (Deidara's bombs keep coming, punching through the cloud cover, since Deidara's not bothering to aim, instead going for maximum coverage and damage.)

He rockets towards Deidara, pushing his hawk to his maximum climbing speed, well over three hundred miles an hour, slams to the side when Deidara takes aim at them - gets above his opponent - 

And dives.

The hawk is significantly faster like this, trailing a sonic boom behind him. Deidara isn't quite able to keep up, his bombing disrupted as he frantically dodges - 

Closer to Isobu, and the storm, just within range for Sasuke to pull.

The lightning shapes itself into a kirin out of long practice, the horn leaping through Deidara, destroying the massive bomb Karin had warned he was forming. He sheathes himself in clay, survives, but with heavy burns, and his clay bird crumbles as he falls to the earth.

Sasuke lines up a kill shot, because he's not relying on that fall to finish the job, and the second Akatsuki member teleports next to Deidara, and then removes him from the field.

Karin and Juugo are smart enough to flatten themselves against the hawk's back a fraction of a second before the teleporter makes another move against Sasuke, and the skittering remains of the kirin - because he channels it through himself, and has learned to keep some back - lashes out.

He thinks for a second he caught the edge of the mask - sees a glimpse of a red eye - and the man vanishes.

Sasuke directs his hawk to wing back to his larger allies, teeth set on edge.

"Was that the Akatsuki?"

He lands. "Yes. The bomber, Deidara, and the teleporter, a member I'm having a frustrating time getting accurate information on, current alias 'Tobi' but indications exist he's used others in the past."

"Isobu, could you tell if he was the same masked man as the one who enspelled Yagara?"

Isobu nods and makes a confirming noise.

Sasuke looks up. "I hadn't heard about this. What happened with Yagura?"

"A masked man, who felt like both Uchiha and Senju, laid a curse on him while he was host to Isobu, to destroy his village."

"I've heard something about a Madara, elsewhere, could that be related?"

He strongly suspects that, regardless of alias, this is the other Uchiha who Itachi'd mentioned - the one who helped her kill the clan.

"Ah. He wasn't. Wrong chakra," Isobu rumbles.

Nod. "I don't know him, so I'll take your word for it. Unfortunately, our negotiations got interrupted..."

"I'll still go with you, yes. You were very helpful."

"Thank you."

And he'll check with Ellisaria that she's ready to go, before heading off - he'd rather be back at the base before debriefing (which he does explain).

Fine with her.

The flight back's done not quite in a sprint, but still at speed. Isobu seems to be treated the two hundred mile an hour flight as a lazy drift.

Sasuke lands them on a beach in Rice Fields not nearby any ports, having gone well out of his way to avoid Lightning's coasts, and bows shallowly to Isobu. "Thank you for coming. Now, I would like to discuss the fight more - what you noticed." Then, "Ellisaria, if you want, we can go over your part first, if you would like to return to your mountain? Or later, even, though I would like that debrief at some point, for tactical reasons."

"The initial explosion caught me off-guard, though it did no substantial damage. I responded with fire to incinerate the explosives before they got close, and switched to lightning when you proved that more effective."

Karin crosses her arms. "They were right around the edge of the range I scan more carefully - I can't really pay attention to everyone actually in my range. Didn't expect someone to attack from that far off. Or be able to locate us at all, my range beats most people's, but if that teleporter was spying..."

"Then one might assume he knows where you asked Isobu to move to. I can ward against scrying, but I do not know how useful that may be."

"We'll monitor the area closely, and I'll stay within sprinting distance - the country's only five hours at its longest at my top speed, so if I was away you'd have to hold out until then. But I should be nearby usually."

"It is a risk, though, and I might just move one of the bases up here."

Isobu shakes his head. "I can leave the water. I don't like to, but if there's a river or a lake I'll be fine. And that way I can talk to your people better about the ocean."

Sasuke nods. "That might be for the best, at least in the short term."

"I will visit as well."

Isobu nods. "I like talking to you," he says to Ellisaria. "So that would be good."

She nods at him.

"Is that teleportation common?" she asks Sasuke.

"I don't think so. I'm not positive how he's doing it, but if it's the technique it seems to be then it's unique to his specific bloodline within the Uchiha clan. Anyone else who could have it is dead."

"Good. Was there anything else you needed from me at the present time?"

"No," Sasuke says, while Isobu shakes his head. "I'll come out or send a hawk if I want to talk again. Thank you for your help."

"It has been a pleasure, young human. Isobu."

She heads for home.

Her home's undisturbed.

(Meanwhile, Isobu shrinks into a positively hide-able size, then follows Sasuke inland.)

She continues her renovations. Taller mountains would be nice, more canvas to work with. She starts on that. Her lair gets a reservoir of lava for heat and light, fed by the magma burbling up to the tops of the peaks.

Soon enough, a wolf the height of two horses at the shoulder, something thoroughly odd about her, shows up to lurk at a polite distance from Ellisaria's lair's front, crossing her paws and grinning.

She pokes her head out.

"Did you want something?"

"I noticed a new neighbor. Not human, nor chakra construct. Interesting, really. Thought I'd come around and introduce myself," the wolf says, voice amused. "I'm the kami of a mountain to your north, Unarida. I am usually called Okami, for my shape, or Unarida, for my mountain."

"I am Ellisaria, the black. I had thought this land dead entirely. I hope my working have not disturbed you unduly."

"Seeing the shrine workers grumble when their bells ring because of the shaking is funny. My mountain won't crack, because it is mine."

"The land is mostly dead, though it hasn't always been. In these days, if we leave, we cannot return, and many leave, for the human realm is not our home."

"How sad that is. A land is nothing without its spirits."

"Very. I've been trying to see if the barrier could be at least changed to allow exceptions, if not reset to its original state entirely. It gets lonely, being one of the few spirits around."

"Barrier?"

"The spirit realm and human realm used to cross over more, blurring into each other in places. A thousand years ago, there was something that could be summed as a 'war', although hardly any of us were involved, and this was termed an unsatisfactory arrangement by the humans' leader at the time. He was strong, and separated the two realms, and created something that's usually called a 'barrier.' Ravine or chasm also work."

She shakes her head. "Mortal arrogance. In my world, the elemental spirits have each their plane, but it is not a prison to any, save for the most destructive of them."

"We didn't have the prisons, unless humans trapped someone individually. It's possible he couldn't make a more finely-tuned barrier. Just means we need to do better."

"What do you mean, 'do better'?"

"I like this world, and some of its people. A full breaking might not be beneficial - there was a reason for splitting the worlds, even if it wasn't a good one. You said yours are prisons for the more violent spirits - I would like something like that. There are spirits that like the taste of humans, and eat them indiscriminately, never mind that we don't need sustenance. There are cruel spirits, who drive people mad. There are spirits that steal souls. They can stay where they are, at least until the humans are more used to those of us with manners."

"You seem to have given this quite some thought. Have you a plan for achieving your ends?"

"I don't think it's doable by a kami, at least not easily. It's possible it's achievable from this end. The most likely scenario for a modification would be a human on the other side; the barrier should weaken in the face of someone going against their own stream like that. I have a monastery, on my mountain, and the leader of it knows my wishes and plans, but she is unwilling to risk stepping into the spirit world right now. A human descendant of the original man who put it in place might be able to do something. A seal master might be able to figure something out, though the humans keep dying before they can get any good. My plan is mostly to wait, and watch, and see about allies, without compromising my mountain or my human followers."

"I have intentions myself of learning the sealing art. I am told this does take some time. I have also recently become acquainted with the Three Tails, and he has taken up residence not far from here. Have you spoken with him?"

"Not in a long time, if at all, I don't think. My mountain isn't sea-side, and I haven't had business with those nine in a while. I don't like going far from my mountain, but if he is near I can seek him out, too."

"He may be willing to help. Though at the moment he is being hunted by a group of humans who wish to reseal him, so his actions are constrained."

"Hm. He's one of that man's; I'm not sure how much he would help. But there's no harm in the asking."

"'That man'? The Ootsutsuki was the one who created the barrier?"

"Yes. He was the de facto ruler of the humans at the time, and one of the most powerful of even partial human descent I've seen or heard of; he and his brother were the most powerful of that era by a large margin."

"I suppose that should not be surprising. So few mortals are exceptional, their greatest deeds tend to concentrate into a very few."

"He was also not fully human - I'm not sure if his mother was mortal or not, but she wasn't native by any measure."

"Offworlders are rarely good news. I, of course, am the exception that proves the rule."

She seems highly amused. "What an odd phrase," she says. "Still, you have been rather helpful, yes."

"This is not the first time I have been stranded on a world not of my birth."

"That sounds like an interesting story."

"Some fifty years ago, my homeworld, Azeroth, was invaded by a race of aliens called orcs, who hailed from a planet called Draenor. They were beaten back through their portal by the humans, in what they call the First War. Ten years later, the orcs reopened the portal and again invaded. However, this was in fact a smokescreen to cover their acquisition of certain powerful artifacts, which their leader intended to use to shepherd them to a new, unclaimed world. Neltharion, the Aspect of the black dragonflight, made a deal in secret with the orcs. He promised the flight's aid to the orcs in obtaining the artifacts and in exchange, the orcs would allow a large portion of us through their portal uncontested. I was one of those chosen to make our foothold on Draenor. The leader of the orcs proved incapable of mastering the power he sought, and rather than move his people, the uncontrolled magic began ripping the world asunder. Some of our group, including Neltharion, made it back through the portal before it was closed. I did not. Those were... an interesting few years. Draenor eventually stabilized, but much of it was lost to the Void. Perhaps a third of it remains, and less is habitable."

"Somehow the mortals have a talent at picking fools for their leaders. Though I suppose kami aren't always much better - two of our supposed greatest once plunged the world into darkness for months over an argument about who was the main creator of something."

"There were, I suspect, external forces at work. The Burning Legion, an army of demons bent on universal destruction, has long sought the demise of Azeroth. The orcs' original invasion was orchestrated by the Legion's influence. The second was either because the Legion wanted the power of the artifacts for themselves or as punishment for the orcs' failure."

"That seems strange to me, but I suppose I haven't been to other worlds. Our would-be world destroyers often don't get along with each other, or aren't intelligent enough to orchestrate anything."

"How fortunate for you and the world."

"Indeed. I'm not certain why it's different."

"The Burning Legion is lead by a rogue Titan, one of the creators of Azeroth and many other worlds. In the absence of such a force to unify the lesser beings, it is not surprising that their efforts would work at cross-purposes."

"This world tried unity once. I think we're still technically in the war that started when it failed, or at least the aftershocks."

"War is something of an inevitability of life. If there is no external enemy, then that energy will be directed to internal struggles."

"Perhaps. I suspect it might also be that humans don't much like each other. They were less quarrelsome when they were farther apart."

"Separation of population groups can help, but does not suffice as a long-term solution."

She nods, resting her head on her paws. "I'm not much concerned with ruling them, though. But if you want to manage the humans, I won't stop you."

"Only insofar as management is required to stop them from disturbing me unduly."

"They'll get used to you eventually, I suspect." She stands, stretches. "If you have no other questions of me, I should perhaps go speak to Isobu, or else return to my mountain."

"A pleasure to have met you, then."

She sketches a bow. "Much the same." And she's off, darting into the woods so fast she blurs.

Everyone in this world moves so quickly. Annoying. Ah well, not everyone lives in dragonhide.

She's left alone for the most part for the next few days, until there's another minor disturbance at the edge of her territory.

...Mmph. This one she's going to leave alone unless the whelplings start a ruckus.

The disturbance creeps closer, until the whelplings do start alarming. There's a thunderous crash, signaling the start of the battle.

The whelplings are more dangerous for their numbers than size, but they are persistent and extremely difficult to shake off. The intruders should be distracted enough for her to get a look before making a move.

There's a group of four, dressed all in black with their faces covered, fighting rather skillfully. They seem to mostly favor martial arts and weapons, with only limited use of fancier techniques - one is able to line her sword with lightning, though, and occasionally send it in arcs, producing the thundering noise. They're trying to retreat, apparently either giving up on their task or deciding to approach differently.

You don't get to attack a dragon's lair while she's home and come out of it with only scratches.

She takes a deep breath and exhales, a stream of fire bathing the entire melee. Her whelplings, of course, will be unaffected by the fire and continue their harassment.

One flinches, blue flaring around him and a light scalding flaring on his exposed skin - no worse than a mild sunburn. The others weather the flames. One, a different woman than the lightning user, raises her hand sharply, gestures, and the attackers fold into a new, more defensive formation.

"Trespassers!" She lauches herself forward to overfly them, breathing flame below her, this time tinged with a flickering blackness at the core.

They scatter, the hotter flames burning the less experienced members, and start putting significantly more effort into retreating. The lightning woman sends an arc of electricity snapping at Ellisaria.

She tucks her wing in and does a half roll to avoid it before landing in the shinobi's line of retreat and scoring a gash across the ground with her claws. Molten earth begins seeping through immediately, and she pulls, sending geysers spattering across the battlefield.

The worse burned of the four is clipped again. The lightning woman jumps high, sticking to the ceiling, and the others similarly get off the ground.

Unfortunately for them, Ellisaria is absolutely willing to collapse part of her lair to punish intruders. Large chunks of the roof start to flake and crash down.

One gets clipped, badly, and seems to suffer a broken bone, not that he lets that slow him down. The leader woman claps her hands and starts pushing the earth above her out of the way. The less injured man just merges with the earth directly, his essence seeming to spread out oddly into the cracks and crannies. 

She fills the space with another stream of shadowflame.

Since the merged earth man doesn't seem to be being creatively squished, the other three use the same technique, with lightning woman hesitating the longest.

Interlopers meddling where they do not belong. But now enough magma has gathered that she can call forth a tide of it to wash through and begin melting the fallen rock.

Two of the shinobi are so far fast enough to retreat ahead of the heat; lightning woman gets seared; one starts deforming rather messily as the melting catches up to him.

Mm, she doesn't want them going further in, either. She flies back across the chamber to make another barrier.

They seem to be more 'fleeing' than attempting to infiltrate - they're going for the nearest surface point - but it is unclear if they'll attempt to return.

Ideally she wants only one of them to get away, so as to spread the message of her displeasure most effectively. But she'll settle for 'more than one horribly maimed and on the brink of death' if she has to, and won't chase them after they've left her lair.

The deformed one dies before he can get away, the lightning wielder falls dramatically behind and seems to be more than on the brink of death, and the other two are moderately to severely injured - the worse one is unlikely to be able to fight again. They consider the message very sent.

Acceptable.

Once they're gone, she spends a day fixing her lair up, then drops by to see Isobu, and then she should probably make sure Sasuke is aware of the trespassers, as they almost certainly went through his territory to get to her.

Isobu's glad to see her - he's moved into a lake close to one of the more militarized bases, and not too far from one of the fledgling academies, and has been talking to some human writers and scientists about the ocean. The Akatsuki haven't tried anything else, yet, and he's pretty sure Sasuke's at the nearby base, if she wants to talk to him - he at least comes out this way a lot.

She'll check there for him, then. At the very least there will be someone who can send a message.

He steps out as she approaches, and hops his way over to a wider, flatter area where she can land more easily.

(He fortunately wasn't busy, and thanks to Karin had enough warning to get a clone set up with his paperwork. He's moderately appalled how much documentation Orochimaru was letting slide. There's a lot to catch up with.)

"I thought you might like to know," she says conversationally, "that I was attacked by a group of shinobi the other day."

"I presume they came out poorly for it. Did you happen to get a hint to their allegiance, or their approach vector?"

"At least one is dead and the others likely wish to be. Unfortunately, they were quite well hidden until they disturbed my whelplings, and bore no tabard or insignia."

"I'll have it looked into."

Easiest would be reviewing Karin's memories, likely - she has a ridiculously broad range, but unfortunately not enough attentional capacity to track everyone at the same time. He also hasn't had her or another sensor tracking Ellisaria's every little motion, just broad movements. He'll have to look at their current workloads, see if shifting people around is reasonable, and how it balances against risking annoying their neighbor.

"As you like. So long as it wasn't any of your people."

"If it was they were acting without orders and deserved what they got."

"Quite. I would be interested to know if your investigations bear any fruit."

"I can send a messenger hawk. If there's anything you can relay about their elemental natures or fighting style, that would also help."

"One was fond of lightning."

"Lightning's a rare affinity. That should help narrow things down, some."

"They were also all capable of moving through rock, if that's relevant."

He shakes his head. "That's a common technique, unfortunately. Moving the rock they're in usually messes with it."

"As will melting it."

"That's an even better deterrent, yes."

"I found it so. But if you have no business of your own, I will be taking my leave."

"A protocol or signal for quickly contacting you wouldn't go amiss. Usually we use chakra flares and sensors to interpret them, but there's also seals that can be linked together for quicker communications, or technological solutions."

"A seal perhaps would be the easiest solution. My lair was not designed for human habitation."

"I'll send you with one. The most reliable ones just do alert flares - those can be used for a dot-code communication. More usable ones can relay more complex messages, but sometimes fail."

"I don't know your dot-code."

"Our best bet is likely a simple seal for an emergency flare, then, and a more complex one for communication. I can show you how to activate them - people who can manipulate chakra at all usually get the trick quickly."

"Please do."

He'll beckon her inside so he can fetch his supplies, then draw out the paired seals. He's not really explaining what he's doing, that requires talking, but he's not stopping her from looking, and he'll answer questions, albeit with as few words as possible. He then walks her through molding chakra and putting it into the seal.

She manages it.

...Distinctively different than mana, this chakra.

The flare seals light up for as long as she's channeling chakra through hers - Sasuke explains that it also gives a small burst of chakra, which is unique to the seal and either he or one of his warden sensors will pick up on it. 

The communication seal transmits sound, a bit wonkily, and cuts out if she shifts too much or her chakra isn't even, but it functions well enough.

It's likely to serve the purpose. It will do.

He nods, asks her if there's anything else, then forces out standard parting pleasantries.

(Why did he think leading a village wouldn't require far too much interacting with people.)

She takes the seals, and they get folded up with her clothes as she transforms to fly home.

When she gets back, she secures the seals in the main room. Then, she starts experimenting with shaping chakra.

It's not straightforward - the chakra wants to flow in its normal patterns, and is resistant to change, and misbehaves in different ways according to her emotions. But it's fairly easy to push small things away from her skin (even entirely on accident) - then to make them stick - then to balance them a small amount away, then farther. Elemental shaping is harder, both to manage and to control. 

She has lots of time to practice. Assuming nothing else bothers her.

Sasuke, meanwhile, is having a rather stressful time. Konoha seems to have moved against Ame - and given the information he's been getting in trickles and bits, that seems like a very, very bad move.

His few remaining Konoha spies catch wind of Jiraiya's death at the hands of Ame's - and the Akatsuki's - leader.

(He also doesn't know what to do with Itachi, his feelings about her have been all over the place (thinking he'd killed her was horrible beyond measure and he still can't believe he got the Mangekyou out of that), and if he can convert her, she'll be tremendously useful, but he doesn't trust her and she has no reason to trust him, and it's hypocritical of him telling his people to work alongside their enemies while he refuses to make a move one way or the other on his...)

But then he catches wind of the Akatsuki moving.

He's not sure he can leave his village undefended. He's not sure the Akatsuki won't take this opportunity to secure Isobu.

He sends an emergency missive - with Isobu on its heels - to the monastery, he knows the head monk there is powerful, and she accepts which is one problem off his mind - 

He arranges for his usual guard to take over Sound, she really does watch him do paperwork enough - 

And his second fastest hawk wings at full speed into Ellisaria's territory a few weeks after they last spoke, while his fastest carries an emergency missive to Konoha, him and a strike team as close behind as they can.

The hawk finds her at home, as is typical. Her lair has slowly been growing more refined as she spends time there.

She's in human form. She finds chakra easier to manage like this, similar to the more delicate spells.

"Emergency!" the hawk screeches. "The Akatsuki are attacking another nation's hidden village in force."

"And the boy requests my aid? Very well."

"Which way?"

He has a map, and can point the direction and give landmarks, both for Konoha and for the last known location and heading of the relevant hostiles.

"You might want to try meeting up with Sasuke-sama," he says. "We were tracking the Akatsuki's approach but they have rapid movement capabilities, it might change very quickly."

"I expect that will not be difficult. We are going the same way."

And she takes off, winging swiftly across the land.

His hawk veers to meet her when Karin senses her approach. "I suspect you're faster than us!" he shouts. "Are you willing to take Karin with you?"

She pulls level with them. "As long as we are expected."

"I opened communications well in advance, before we even decided for sure what to do. They know to expect us." 'Hawk carrying communications seal' is an odd use case, but it's useful for rapidly changing emergencies.

Karin jumps over.

There's a natural-ish place to sit at the base of her neck, below her crest and just in front of the shoulders of her wings. Dragonhide is not exactly comfortable, but that spot offers a minimum of jostling.

"Hold on." And off they go.

Karin appreciates not having to use chakra to stick to Ellisaria's back, she has plenty but it's best to minimize waste.

She directs Ellisaria to the mountains nearby Konoha, where a group of seven have killed everyone at a border station and seem to be preparing to move out.

"There's more elsewhere - that Deidara is on the other side of Konoha - but these felt the most dangerous," she says. "The six except the blue-haired woman feel linked, they might be able to communicate or otherwise use techniques more easily among themselves."

"A challenge, then. Well enough."

She strafes the enemy, coating the area with shadowflame.

Her flames are blocked by a truly ludicrous amount of paper, and the purple haired woman sprouts wings made of the same before launching herself into the air, papers swirling.

The six others take off in different directions.